Breaking Down the 4 -4 -2 Mid-Block: Analysing Leicester City’s Possession Play against Villarreal’s Mid-Block in the Pre -Season

After a season that saw them claim their first-ever FA Cup triumph and come within inches of Champions League football, Leicester City have started their 2021/22 campaign off on the right foot. The Foxes defeated Manchester City in the Community Shield thanks to a late penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho, whilst they condemned Bruno Lage to a loss in his first Premier League match in charge of Wolves, with a goal from Jamie Vardy proving the difference between the two sides at King Power Stadium.

Leicester's preseason fixtures saw them lose to Burton Albion and Wycombe Wanderers and draw 3-3 to Queens Park Rangers, culminating in a 3-2 victory over Europa League champions Villarreal. However, the win over El Submarino Amarillo was overshadowed by Fernando Niño's horrific tackle on Wesley Fofana, which has condemned Fofana to a lengthy spell on the sidelines and forced Leicester to sign Jannik Vestergaard from Southampton for a fee of £15 million to help make up the numbers in defense.

Despite the sour taste left from Fofana's injury, the Villarreal match saw Leicester come out on top against a formidable opponent and break down a stubborn pressing scheme and well-oiled 4-4-2 mid-block and exploit the spaces left by the opposition. Let's take a look at how Brendan Rodgers' side pulled off a victory against Unai Emery's Yellow Submarine and ended their 2021 preseason with a 3-2 win.

Before we go into detail about Leicester’s plan in possession, we need to take a look at their shape in possession which was carried out for 1/3rd of the game. Their structure was as follows: center backs Çağlar Söyüncü and Fofana split wide in possession, fullbacks Ryan Bertrand and Ricardo Pereira shift higher up the pitch to allow the wingers Harvey Barnes and Ayoze Pérez to move inside + create a potential 5v4 numerical superiority vs Villarreal’s back 4. Youri Tielemans drops to the right-back position to cover for Ricardo's overlapping runs, whilst James Maddison replaces Tielemans in the double pivot alongside Wilfred Ndidi.